1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for receiving a single-use vessel and a method for receiving a single-use vessel.
2. Related Art
Single-use systems, i.e. bioreactors and/or pallettanks, are becoming increasingly prevalent in the biopharmaceutical industry because of flexibility, reduced capital cost, reduced risk of cross-contamination, and utility savings compared to traditional stainless steel systems. Single-use vessels, i.e. containers and/or bags, are commonly made of flexible multilayer film and, as a consequence, may require a support structure, i.e. a box, to prevent sagging and rupture due to hydrostatic pressure when filled with liquid. The support structure is suitable to receive the single-use vessel. In the support structure, the single-use vessel may be tempered for a predetermined time. Furthermore, the contents of the single-use vessel may be mixed and/or examined within the support structure. Such “bag-in-box” systems are already available from several suppliers (e.g. Sartorius, Pall, Millipore, Thermo Scientific).
Some applications require that a mixing equipment is fully closed with no possibility of leakage between the mixing vessel and the environment - for example, the fluids to be mixed may be either hazardous (e.g. toxic) or sensitive to contamination from the outside environment (e.g. highly purified pharmaceutical material). In such cases, a magnet drive system may be employed as a means of transmitting torque between an external motor and a mixing device (e.g. an impeller) arranged inside of the single-use vessel.
The system may further comprise a drive-unit containing the external motor and/or a related control system. The drive-system may be provided as a separate component of the system that can engage with the supporting structure. This arrangement allows sharing one drive-unit across many different support structures, thereby reducing the capital cost.
It is a problem to improve engaging the drive-unit to the supporting structure and/or the single-use vessel.